Ch 7 A word and its Structure ENGT

Ch 7 A word and its Structure ENGT 243 Morphology & Syntax

The nature of word formation rules - It is generally agreed that wordformation are like phrase-structure (sentence formation) rules used in syntax.

Word-structure rule

Word-structure rule A phrase structure rule is usually translated into a phrase structure tree diagram. Words have internal structure, affixes and roots are not put together higgledy-piggledy.

Word-structure rule There must be a head element that dominates everything and determines the word class, and the slots that it can occupy in a sentence. Normally, In English word, the head is the right-hand-most element, be it a root or a suffix. This principle is known as right-handhead-rule. E. g. disagree, unfair.

Compositionality Consider the following: He Kicked the bucket to die He spilled the beans to spread the secret

Compositionality Definition of compositionality: If a linguistic structure is compositional, then the meaning of the whole can be inferred from the parts, taking into account the grammatical relations between them. Compositionality (in morphology ) Affixed words are composed of building blocks, each contributing its syntax and meaning.

Compositionality Complex Words Often the meaning of a complex word containing affixes can be computed from the meaning of its parts. You can usually work out the meaning of a word that you may not have encountered before, if you know the meaning of its constituents parts. E. g. retraditionalization.

Limits of compositionality Consider the following: Seeker, writer, looker. Agentive nominalizing suffix -er

Compositional Vs. Noncompositional seeker and writer derive a noun meaning 'somebody who does whatever' However, if we applied the same interpretation to looker, we would be wrong. A looker is not someone who looks, it is a handsome person. Hence, the meaning of looker is noncompositional. So this word has to be listed in the lexicon, and memorized.

Compounding Consider the Following Schoolboy Gundog Undrsell Razorsharp Greenhouse Taxpayer

Compounding Compounds are complex words containing at least two bases that are themselves words. It has always been a highly productive process in English. Compounds are classified on the basis of the word class of their constituents and the class of the entire resulting word.

Compounding As is the case with affixes, the concept of head is important in morphology in general, and in compounds too. Compounds always have a headword which assigns its syntactic properties to the entire word, based on the right-hand head rule, it is normally the right-handmost word. But this is not always the case, (phrasal verbs)

Compounding The right-hand head rule applies and the last word in the compound assigns its class to the entire word as you can see

Compounding

Compounding

Compounding • The right-hand head rule is very important in English word-formation, but it does not apply all the time. • Examples: 1. an up market pub. (adj. ) 2. Look for, look up to, look into, etc. (Verbal phrases)